A Joint Media Project of
International Press Syndicate Japan
and Soka Gakkai International in Consultative Status with ECOSOC
UN-Backed IRENA Supports Climate Action and Sustainable Development
By Bernhard Schell
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates | 28 January 2024 (IDN) — The lead global intergovernmental agency for energy transformation, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which supports countries in their energy transitions, and provides state-of-the-art data and analyses on technology, innovation, policy, finance and investment, marked its 15th anniversary on 26 January.…
Start-Ups Powering Up Africa’s Solar Energy Ecosystem
By Finbarr Toesland
This report was published in Africa Renewal.
LONDON | 27 January 2024 (IDN) — Often referred to as the “Sun continent,” Africa receives more hours of bright sunlight than any other continent. But even with 60 per cent of the world’s solar resources, Africa has only one per cent of solar generation capacity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).…
China’s Grassroots Democracy Paves Path to Sustainable Development
By Kalinga Seneviratne
HUANGSHI, Hubei Province, China | 12 January 2024 (IDN) — About 30 minutes drive from this city in Hubei Province are villages that are providing a model of village-based grassroots democracy that is paving the path to achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2015, which China supported. (P29) Arabic | Chinese | Japanese | Korean| Spanish…
Five Conflicts to Keep an Eye On in 2024
By Tobias Ide*
This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.
PERTH, Australia | 16 January 2024 (IDN) — From a peace and conflict perspective, 2023 was not a good year. In July, the Uppsala Peace and Conflict Data Program revealed that the past few years saw more armed conflicts than any other period since 1945. Fighting related to cartel conflicts in Mexico, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the military coup in Myanmar, and state fragility in West Africa continues with high intensity. Recently, the Middle East experienced a massive eruption of violence in Israel and Palestine.…
UN Agency Marks a Notable Achievement in Global Health
Forty-three Countries Certified as Malaria-free
CABO VERDE | 12 January 2024 (IDN | WHO News release) — The World Health Organization (WHO), has certified Cabo Verde as a malaria-free country, marking a significant achievement in global health. With this announcement, Cabo Verde joins the ranks of 43 countries and one territory that WHO has awarded this certification.…
Thailand: Farm Academy Training Takes Kids Away from Screens
By Pattama Vilailert
KHON KAEN, Thailand | 6 January 2024 (IDN) — Nalinthip has been a nurse for 13 years and is the mother to two children aged three and five. Her husband is a YouTuber who spends most of his time on the screen at the age of 40. His Internet using behavior alarmed Nalinthip and she became worried that her young children would follow in the father’s footsteps. (P28) Indonesian | Italian | Japanese | Thai…
Gaza War: UN Agencies Struggling with Humanitarian and Health Needs
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA | 6 January 2024 (IDN) — The UN’s migration agency IOM has launched an urgent appeal for $69 million to support its response to escalating and critical humanitarian needs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and neighbouring countries affected by the ongoing hostilities in Gaza.…
COP28 – Massive Disappointments, Slight Glimmers of Hope
By Volker Boege*
Toda Peace Institute issued this article, which is being republished with their permission.
BRISBANE, Australia | 4 January 2024 (IDN) — At the closing plenary of COP28, Anne Rasmussen from Samoa, the lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Islands States (AOSIS), expressed her disappointment about the conference’s outcome in no uncertain terms: “We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual when what we really needed is an exponential step change in our actions”.…
Vietnam: Drought and Salinity in the Mekong Delta Threatens Food Security
By Le Thanh Binh
HO CHI MINH CITY | 3 January 2024 (IDN) — The Mekong Delta in South Vietnam has been the country’s rice granary for generations, feeding more than 20 million people today. But climate change resulting in droughts and salinity of the river-fed waters is now threatening food security. (P27) French | Hindi | Indonesian | Japanese | Thai…
Peace and Security: Homage to a Buddhist Spiritual Leader and a Great Writer
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | 1 January 2024 (IDN) — “Even an old fountain pen, if it happened to have belonged to some great writer, is looked on with awe and reverence by the people of later times, for they feel that somehow it is capable of revealing the secrets of the great man’s masterpieces,” wrote Daisaku Ikeda in an essay titled ‘A Mirror’ in November 1978.…
Published by
International Press Syndicate Japan
Ichimura bldg. 4F, 3-2 Kanda Ogawa-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo JAPAN 101-0052
as part of a Joint Media Project with the
Soka Gakkai International
15-3 Samon-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0017, Japan
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